The third commandment

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. (The short list)

Exodus 20:7 "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name." (this was taken from the NIV).  As I started to go back over these commandments, I have thought a lot about them. Two different Pastors that I listen to have recently preached sermons on the ten commandments and I have taken a new look at them. I believe it will take me some time to do this, one at a time. One Pastor asked the question, which commandments do you have struggles with? It is partly because of that question that I am taking another look at these commandments. The other Pastor in his sermon was talking about the third commandment and he shed a different light on it then what I normally think about. So many times we have looked at this as using profanity, God this and God that. But as he was speaking on this, and related some incidents from his past where people would represent God, God told me such and such. We use God to add strength to what we are saying. The God club. Or how about the TV preachers that try to get your money?  Plant a seed, is a common term. As I thought about this, how if we misrepresent God, even as I write this blog, God will not hold me guiltless. I never thought about it beyond the use of profanity. But as I read this verse from the NIV Bible and it says it this way, Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God. Would this be like attributing things to God that he did not say to get what we want? Like when we are kids and someone tells us, God is going to get you for that. Using God as a club. I have heard stories of people going to a Pastor and saying God told me I am going to work with you. Or God told me you are the mate he has promised me. God has never spoke to me audibly. I have felt he said things to me in my mind. Once as I was praying about a divorce I was going through, and I felt God showed me what my spouse was doing, I felt like he said to me in my mind, now I showed you this so you would know what is going on, not to go and make a fool of yourself by making a scene. And when I met my wife for the first time I felt like God said in my mind, don't let this one get away. It was not an audible voice, but I felt like God spoke to me. If people say God said this to me to tell you to get something they want, are they misusing God? Does this verse mean something more than just the profanity we attribute to this verse? Using God as a club to get what we want? God told me to tell you, so and so. God can speak to me directly and to you.  Sure sometimes he will speak to us through his Prophet, his preacher. I have had incidents like that also. Once in my second divorce, when I was feeling pretty low and unloved. I was hanging around the wrong people. I knew it, but I was excusing my behavior.  One Sunday during the time in about 1998, when I was in the midst of my second divorce, working a lot of Sundays. I worked many weekends  because I hated going home to an empty house. I was missing a lot of church. keeping bad company.  This particular Sunday I felt the need to leave work and find a Church. I was living in Everett and traveling to Renton to work. I didn't know Renton very well. I drove down Renton Avenue looking for a house of worship, it was about 10:00 am.  I spotted a little store front Baptist Church and stopped and went in. There were only about 5 people there. A gray haired Black minister got up to speak. His text for that Sunday morning was Psalms 1. "Blessed is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers."  I knew God was talking to me through that minister that morning. Nobody had to say to me,  God told me to tell you.  I knew God saw the company I was keeping and he cared enough for me to speak to me directly through his word. Have we manipulated children to get them to do what we want them to do and used God as a club? God can speak for himself. He may use another person as his voice piece as he did that minister that Sunday morning, but he spoke to my heart directly. I hope God may use me as his mouth piece at times but I never want to misrepresent God, Perhaps the verse above from Exodus means more than just our every day profanity. Perhaps it does include:  God told me to tell you to do what I want you to do. Yes I think I have struggled with this commandment and played the God card as I said in a recent blog. I am so glad God is so merciful, and forgives and removes our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. God bless, LVZ.